Warner Bros. Discovery

Television Subscription and International
271

Paramount is only interested in what makes them the most money.

272

Am I right in saying that CNN now will shift rightward ala CBS News?

3 Likes
273

Only thing of value at 10

2 Likes
274

In terms of the legalities, surely WBD have demanded a whole bunch of sweetener clauses in the merger, the mountain of IPs and copyrights too, there is serious legacy there, it’d be disastrous to vaporise the Warners name. Obviously Paramount will be the main player here and should have the control, not disputing that.

Like Disney kept the Fox label and its legacy and very much active as a subsidiary.

I’ll note as one random observation for example, Disney still use the ©️ 20th Century Studios line (rather than ©️ Disney) for new ex-Fox IP releases, etc. So there must be historical contractual things there, otherwise they’d have it owned under their name, why wouldn’t they.

275

Yes. Trump has allegedly even asked David Ellison to fire certain hosts he doesn’t like (Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar).

276

Clearly there will be some intervention from the right and there will be a reckoning but they’ll soon discover they can’t outfox Fox. Trump just continues this personal retribution because someone hurt his feelings but the republicans are the party of free speech. Fuckwits. The Ellisons are pretty much fuckwits too. Hope they don’t ruin the once great legacy film companies.

277

Let’s just hope they’ll find they’ve bitten off more than they can chew. Fuckwits. I agree with you entirely.

2 Likes
278

I’ll be interested to see what paramount do with TNT sports in the UK and if they gobble up the rights for P+. There’s a lot of moving parts here. I would like to see some considerable consolidation of all the cable networks. They’re basically shit. They don’t need that many.

279
2 Likes
280

in the IT world, the Ellisons are hated, and Oracle has this funny little acronym the community has made

ORACLE -
One
Rich
Asshole
Called
Larry
Ellison

6 Likes
281

One interesting aspect is Paramount+ is meant to take over from TNT Sports as the main Champions League rights holder from the 2027/28 season. If the WBD/Paramount merger does happen, perhaps TNT Sport might still be able to show the Champions League after all.

282

I doubt it. WBD want to be sold, this isn’t a merger or hostile takeover (well, sort of not) - the WB studios might remain for a few years but I suspect they’ll be folded in in time. You don’t talk about synergies then plan to run different arms.

3 Likes
283

Late Thursday night at around 10.30p.m. in London at the world premiere afterparty for Warner Bros.’ all-star gothic romance “The Bride!,” phones suddenly began pinging simultaneously across the room.

The news had broken: Netflix had pulled out of the deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, leaving Paramount Skydance poised to claim victory.

Guests noted a palpable sense of relief — a feeling that Hollywood’s most intensely fought contest in years was finally over.

284

I’m not sure HBO Max and Paramount + will merge

The HBO brand is iconic and worth so much. It’s been around 52 years. It’s got significant value.

Para is paying US$111 billion for the content. They’re not going to put all that on Paramount+ for free / the same price.

Maying buying up to HBO Max as a tile inside Paramount+ for another $15 a month

they need to keep that content monetised

1 Like
285

I’m dubious it’ll get through state AG’s and Europe, but if it does, I assume they’ll do a HBO addition like you suggest. They’d be crazy to kill that IP. They did with Showtime, but arguably there wasn’t much left of that, though I still think it’d be a better name than P+.

286

There is no way anyone is gonna get all the hbo content for the same price as you’re getting the para content. Prices will double. They need to pay for the $111m somehow. And hbo / wb is premium content. You don’t give that away

287

P+ basic then an add on for no ads, an add on for UFC, an add on for HBO. It’ll end up like a cable thing.

2 Likes
288

I suspect the only way Paramount gets the scale of customers they need to make this work is to merge the two services. Maybe there’s an HBO add on but Ellison seems dead set on swallowing it up.

2 Likes
289

You’re not gonna give away $111b of content for free when you can sell it for $20 a month.

10s of millions of households already happily pay for both.

290

This is about power as much as money. I take your point but I think that would be the only way they can scale up vs Netflix

1 Like